‘He’s my favourite’: The ties that bind the generations of Hawthorn rat packs

Connor Macdonald sidled up to Garry Young after training on Wednesday and placed his arm around the 85-year-old premiership Hawk’s shoulder.

In an instant, the 22-year-old was discussing family with the only Hawk to both play 100 games in, and win a premiership wearing, the No.31 – the number Macdonald has shone in since making his debut in 2022.

Star Hawks youngster Connor Macdonald with 1961 premiership star Garry Young.Credit: Joe Armao

There was none of the youthful brashness that earned this team “the Hollywood Hawks” nickname on display from Macdonald.

This was a conversation based on mutual regard – a face to the name that confronts Macdonald every time he reaches his locker at Waverley Park to train.

To the 22-year-old Macdonald, Young’s achievements – and those of the other three Hawthorn players to win a flag in No.31, Bernie Jones (1976), Greg Madigan (1989) and Stuart Dew (2008) – are a source of inspiration.

“He is on 108 [games] and I am on 71 [games] now, so I want to try to pip him. Hopefully, I can do that. It’s awesome to look up there every day and know that a great man like Garry played in a premiership with the club and played a lot of games of footy,” Macdonald said.

From across the generations they came to celebrate Hawthorn’s 100 years as a club.Credit: Joe Armao

Young adores the latest member of the No.31 club, and he’ll be delighted if Macdonald can join him on the locker as the second 100-game, premiership player in that number.

“He’s my favourite. [Number] 31 is in my heart. He [Macdonald] has a physical presence on the football field, and I’m so proud of him and for him to wear it,” Young said. “He is wearing it with pride and determination, and it is a great feeling.”

The pair’s informal catch-up was part of a gathering at Waverley on Wednesday that saw a player from each of the Hawks’ 13 premiership teams come together to mark the club’s 100-year anniversary, an occasion to be celebrated at the MCG on Sunday when they play the Tigers – a team they have only played once in a final (in 2018).

Although Sam Mitchell’s team has been happy to challenge conventional wisdom with their flamboyant goal celebrations and post-victory selfies, the players’ attitudes to those who wore their numbers in premierships could only be described as deferential.

Jarman Impey talked at length with Peter Russo as Lloyd Meek chatted to Michael Tuck, while Robert DiPierdomenico’s big personality left Changkuoth Jiath with a disbelieving grin – the number on their backs joining them in the same way it connects Young and Macdonald, even though they have only met a couple of times.

Gary Ayres (1988) and Robert DiPierdomenico (1989) with their premiership cups.Credit: Joe Armao

“He’s just a great man. I get on well with him. He’s really supportive of everything since meeting him,” Macdonald said.

Young began at the Hawks in 1955, aged just 16, having arrived at the club from Boronia.

He was a key forward with a wobbly kick who managed to steer the ball through the goals regularly enough to lead the Hawks’ goalkicking in 1959 and again in 1960 in his first season under John Kennedy snr – his teammate becoming his coach.

By the end of next season, he had played in Hawthorn’s first premiership – aged just 22 years and 75 days.

He was 36 days younger than Macdonald will be on Sunday when the Hawks play Richmond at the MCG in a game that officially celebrates their 100th year in the competition.

Young then played in the 1963 grand final loss to Geelong before suffering a perforated bowel in round two, 1965. The injury ended his career on 108 games and 164 goals, only nine players having kicked more goals in No.31.

“I did not discover that [injury] until I rang Peter Scott, a reserves player and a doctor. He wasn’t the club doctor, but Peter said, ‘Go to the hospital’. I lost four pints of blood and that was the termination of my career,” Young said. “I was very disappointed because I was in my prime at 24 years old.”

But there were no hard feelings from Young, who has also been the club’s runner, a selector and been on the board. He received Hawthorn life membership 50 years ago, in 1965.

“Every day is enjoyable and wonderful if we win,” Young said.

Making Young’s day enjoyable is part of Macdonald’s plan on Sunday. He is happy to hear advice from Young as to how to fine-tune his game – words of wisdom Young says will remain between him and Macdonald.

Their stories, in part, serve as a reminder that although everything changes, it’s often only by degree.

Young claims his “rat pack” included great mates, speedster Colin Youren, wet-weather specialist John Fisher, and the disciplined John McArthur – the adjectives drawn from the Encyclopedia of League Footballers. The trio called Young “the G-man” and it has stuck.

Macdonald’s partners in crime include Nick Watson, Dylan Moore and Jack Ginnivan. They call him “the Croc”, a nickname earned at school when someone decided he looked like Joel Crocker, the son of North Melbourne premiership player Darren Crocker.

The current Hawks might rib each other if one inadvertently copies one of Ja Morant’s celebrations after a goal – or “cellies” as they like to call them – that had been used before, but the ethos is the same.

Mates off the field are better teammates on it.

Macdonald knows Young was one of the players who laid the foundation for his career.

“For us to look back and see how much success they have had, and how strong they were – it only drives us and motivates us to want to get that [too and] be the old boys coming back,” Macdonald said.

Old Macdonald? Another No.31 with a flag and 100 games would be enough.

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